1. Field
Embodiments may relate to a vapor-liquid separator for separating a gas phase refrigerant, and a liquid phase refrigerant and a clothes treating apparatus having the same.
2. Background
A heat pump system may circulate a refrigerant through an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion valve. The evaporator may absorb a heat source, and the condenser may discharge the heat source. The refrigerant may absorb the heat source so as to change from a liquid phase to a vapor phase (or a gas phase), and discharge the heat source so as to change from the vapor phase to a liquid phase. The gas phase refrigerant may be compressed by the compressor and may subsequently through circulate the condenser, the expansion valve, the evaporator, and the compressor as one cycle.
If a liquid phase refrigerant is introduced together with a vapor phase refrigerant to the compressor, while the compressor operates, the liquid phase refrigerant may be compressed, and thereby cause damage to the compressor.
In order to prevent (or reduce) damage to the compressor, a vapor-liquid separator (or an accumulator) may be connected to an inlet side of the compressor to separate the liquid phase refrigerant and the vapor phase refrigerant.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a vapor-liquid separator according to an example arrangement.
As shown in FIG. 6, a vapor-liquid separator 1 may include a refrigerant inlet pipe 2a and a refrigerant discharge pipe 2b. The refrigerant inlet pipe 2a may be provided at an upper portion of a casing 2 to allow a refrigerant discharged from the evaporator to be introduced to inside of the casing 2. The refrigerant discharge pipe 2b may be provided in a lower portion of the casing 2 to discharge a gas phase refrigerant separated due to a difference in specific gravity of the refrigerant to the compressor. The vapor-liquid separator 1 may store the liquid phase refrigerant separated from the gas phase refrigerant in the casing 2.
However, since the vapor-liquid separator 1 is manufactured to be connected to a inlet side of a vertical compressor, it may not be applied to a horizontal compressor advantageously used when a height of an installation space of a compressor is small. If the vapor-liquid separator 1 (shown in FIG. 6) is connected to an inlet side of the horizontal compressor, the vapor-liquid separator 1 may protrude upwardly from the horizontal compressor, thereby causing a problem that an overall height of the compressor and the vapor-liquid separator 1 is increased against what was intended in the horizontal compressor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,183 (hereafter Patent Document D1), the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, is titled Lateral Type Accumulator. In order to solve the above problem, Patent Document D1 discloses a horizontal accumulator disposed in a horizontal direction to be parallel to a horizontal compressor.
In an example in which a heat pump system is applied to a clothes treating apparatus (such as a washing machine and/or the like), since a drum and a tub accommodate clothes, and/or the like, occupies a greatest part of an internal space of the clothes treating apparatus, a disposition space to install all of an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor, an expansion valve, a vapor-liquid separator, and/or the like, in the remaining space (excluding the drum and the tub) within the clothes treating apparatus is small.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a horizontal accumulator according to an example document, namely Patent Document D1. As shown in FIG. 7, a horizontal accumulator of Patent Document D1 is not problematic when an inlet 37 and an outlet 39 are positioned on opposing sides. However, in an example in which the horizontal accumulator of Patent Document D1 is disposed in a narrow space, the inlet 37 and the outlet 39 may be formed on the same side or in the same direction to avoid interference with respect to other components, and even though the inlet 37 and the outlet 39 are formed on the same side, the following problems may arise.
For example, in a structure of the horizontal accumulator of Patent Document D1, in an example in which the inlet 37 and the outlet 39 are positioned together on the left side, when a mixture of a liquid phase and gas phase refrigerant and oil introduced through a first communication opening 51 passes through an upper space of a liquid phase refrigerant storage space, the liquid phase refrigerant and oil are required to be separated and the gas phase refrigerant is required to be returned toward the outlet. However, since a hole allowing the gas phase refrigerant to be returned is not formed at a second partition plate 47, the gas phase refrigerant may not be able to be returned.
Even if a hole allowing the gas phase refrigerant to be returned is formed in the second partition plate 47, the returned gas phase refrigerant may meet the mixture including the sucked liquid phase refrigerant, or the like, and thereby causing a problem that it is not possible to separate the gas phase refrigerant and the liquid phase refrigerant, an intrinsic function of the vapor-liquid separator.